Cabinet of curiosities #12 | Palimpsest

Emma Mathoulin

Parchment skin is the central element of my current research. This medium speaks of time and landscapes. The ancestor of our paper, it embodies a memory of our earliest manuscripts, illuminations, codexes… a memory that opens our eyes beyond the here and now. A memory. Landscapes, because each skin is a geography in itself. It seems to bear traces of the landscapes travelled by the animal (horse, deer, billy goat, goat…). It’s a vital, organic memory. Several periods of research have enabled me to understand and develop various printing methods so that copper plate and skin can enter into a dialogue and not impose one on the other. I dye certain skins naturally (onion, roucou, tea or coffee tincture) in the same way as a painter creates his backgrounds. They are chosen for their ability to absorb printing ink, and for the marks they already bear (scars, stains, parasites, etc.). The question of the palimpsest comes into play here. What will pass before or behind, between the multiple passages of the plate and the textures of the skin. Between what is decided and what emerges, what is covered and what rises again (Emma Mathoulin)